People v. Moore

• Decision Date: 30 November 1971
• Docket Number: No. 42194,42194
• Citation: 50 Ill.2d 24,276 N.E.2d 319
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Earl MOORE, Appellant.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 319

276 N.E.2d 319

50 Ill.2d 24

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Earl MOORE, Appellant.

No. 42194.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Nov. 30, 1971.

Edward M. Genson, Santo J. Volpe, and Sam Adam, Chicago, appointed by the court, for appellant.

William J. Scott, Atty. Gen., Springfield, and Edward V. Hanrahan, State's Atty., and James B. Zagel, Asst. Atty. Gen., Chicago (Robert A. Novelle, and William K. Hedrick, Asst. State's Attys., of counsel), for the People.

GOLDENHERSH, Justice.

In a bench trial in the circuit court of Cook County defendant, Earl Moore, was convicted of the offense of murder and sentenced to a term of not less than 20 nor more than 60 years. Defendant and James Hall had been indicted for the murder of Clinton Crump. Hall pleaded guilty to a reduced charge, did not testify at the trial and is not a party to this appeal.

The testimony shows that on the evening of May 12, 1968, the decedent, Crump, age 17, in the company of two other teenage boys and two teenage girls, had attended a movie, and at approximately midnight he and his friends were walking north on Halsted Street near 60th Street in Chicago. At this point they were approached by a group of six boys, among whom were Hall and the defendant. Someone in defendant's group asked decedent's group whether they were members of a gang known as the Disciples. Apparently without further conversation, Hall struck Larry Radcliff, a member of decedent's group, with a chain. Defendant stabbed at decedent with a knife but instead struck Milton Welles, another of decedent's group, in the arm and hand. Decedent's friends started to run, and the boys ran into a tavern called Crow's Nest Lounge. While running, Welles saw defendant alongside decedent making a stabbing motion toward decedent's stomach with the knife. Vanessa Pierce, one of the girls with decedent, saw defendant stab at decedent's chest just as decedent reached the front of the tavern.

Welles ran into the kitchen area of the tavern and from there saw decedent lying on the tavern floor. Defendant was standing over the decedent, and Welles saw him stab him several times with a knife and strike him with a club. While Welles grabbed a kitchen knife, defendant left the tavern.

Beatrice Williams, a barmaid in the Crow's Nest Lounge, identified defendant as the person whom she saw in the tavern beating decedent with a club. The witnesses, Welles, Radcliff and Pierce, made positive in-court identifications of defendant.

Defendant, while admitting being with the group that chased decedent and his companions, testified that he was intoxicated on the night in question and denied stabbing or beating decedent. He said he watched the fight which took place in the tavern from the street, and at no time went inside. One of defendant's companions corroborated his testimony.

Defendant contends that the evidence is conflicting on vital issues, there are many discrepancies in the testimony adduced by the People, the evidence is so unsatisfactory as to raise a reasonable doubt of defendant's guilt, and the judgment of conviction should, therefore, be reversed. The record shows that for the most part the alleged discrepancies involve the color of the clothing worn by defendant at the time of the occurrence, and are not of such nature as to undermine the credibility of the People's witnesses. As to the testimonial conflicts, they were resolved by the trial court and we do not find that the evidence is so unsatisfactory as to raise a reasonable doubt of defendant's guilt. People v. Hoffman, 45 Ill.2d 221, 258 N.E.2d 326.

Defendant...